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Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Maine Coast Marathon

In 2013, my friend-endurance veteran extraordinaire-Charles, brought back to life the Maine Coast Marathon, 26.2 miles of beautiful coastline that is my backyard and training grounds, after a 26 year hiatus. This race was founded in 1980 as the Nike Maine Coast Marathon and a course that qualified three individuals for the US Olympic Marathon Trials in 1983. The Re-Inaugural (is that a word? it is now...) MECM in 2013 was also the first marathon for one of my athletes, Marc. It was a cool day with rain and drizzle to start and then the day warmed and we finished with nice weather. I paced him for the last 15 miles or so last year and was up to run again this year. A perk of being friends with the RD. I had many friends and a few athletes running on Sunday and just like last year, I would help out early in the morning on the course and then I would run with my athlete(s) and cheer on others. The day was cool at the start but it would not stay that way.

we had the first intersection with Officer Carney, same as last year!

my friend and local running legend, Brian. He's amazing and a beautiful person

puppy kisses

my friend and Dailymile buddy, Jim

After getting all the runners safely by Rt1, it was off to the next stop, mile 6 and a road crossing.
Lots of cheering and high fives here...the sun was starting to get warm.

Lots of friends out there and I had to laugh at some of the photo poses...As soon as all the runners were through Mile 6, it was time for ME to change and head out. Hubbs dropped me off at Mile 18 down the road from our home and I ran out to mile 15 where I would run with several friends and one of my athletes for a bit, back and forth. I got in several miles this way and then finally met up with Marc.

I ran with my friend, Mary for a few miles and she was holding up really well and armed with a very positive attitude!

The heat index was increasing and I could see that the warm temps were taking their toll on some of the runners.

The number 19 is my favorite number and it was my favorite mile of the run.

That's where friends, Tim and Jessica's kids were out with the best cheers of the day!
Loved the sign too!

Then it was Mile 20...

Then we hit some pretty amazing views by my favorite beach...with only about 5k to go to the finish line.
This is when the wheels started to come off for Marc. He was only 6 weeks out from shoulder surgery and was way undertrained for this marathon...but he is stubborn and he insisted on running.

a quick mile 21 selfie....

Once Marc hit the 24 mile point, his running was done. He was walking and just focusing on moving forward. I got the chance to meet Issac and run into the awesome SARA aka Middle Aged Runner

With about a quarter mile left, I ran to the finish line to watch Marc finish. I captured a pic of my favorite race photog, Rusty!! He always gets a good race shot of me :)

I was able to log about 17 miles on Sunday which was great considering my longest run has only been about 10*12 miles in MONTHS!!

Marc was able to run it in thru the chute and while his time was slower than we even predicted with the lack of training AND the surgery, he still finished.

While out on the course, I met an amazing woman, TERRI. This was marathon 126 for her.

She went on to run another the next day (on Monday) and another on Tuesday.
Amazing.

She is also racing Kona this year!

I also got to meet an incredibly lovely family, the Rios' clan. The son, Billy was running and Dad, Raphael, just ran Boston last month. Raphael qualified for Boston on the Maine Coast course the year before. They were such a special group of folks and I just loved their energy. Billy is another weight loss success story so make sure to look for his feature story soon on Transformation Tuesday!

The Lovely Rios Family in front of President Bush's estate on the Maine Coast Marathon course

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So now with this season being such a strange one for me trying to balance work, family, training and more work...I was bitten by the marathon bug again...bad, and will definitely be doing lots of running this year. Trying to figure out which FALL marathon I will add to my schedule but today I did go and register for the JOST RUNNING VIRTURAL MARATHON to get me going!

Are you familiar with JOST RUNNING? If not, check it out. I will be sharing lots more about JOST RUNNING and what they offer in terms of running to help great causes. I love their mission and message!

I am registered for the BEAT THE HEAT MARATHON to benefit GOTR.

BEAT THE HEAT MARATHON

JULY 27 - AUGUST 02

Before we were runners, the thought of waking up before the sun to get in a run seemed crazy. Now little motivates us to get out of bed more that those early summer morning hours where the sun is only preheating our day, not fully baking it. This month we want you to stay safe, hydrated, and get out there and "Beat The Heat" by showing that sun who's boss. So hurry up and get in those miles before the soles on your shoes start to melt. July's races benefit : Girls On The Run